A couple of days ago, Mrs Weetabix pulled a drowning kid out of the pool. His mom was only a few feet away, but he wasn't making a sound, and she didn't realize that there was a problem until Mrs W had him out of the pool, coughing up water.

Take a look at this article. What I found particularly sobering was this line:

It is the number two cause of accidental death in children, age 15 and under (just behind vehicle accidents) – of the approximately 750 children who will drown next year, about 375 of them will do so within 25 yards of a parent or other adult. In ten percent of those drownings, the adult will actually watch them do it, having no idea it is happening (source: CDC).

I doubt that this will save many kiters - we're generally decent swimmers and there are usually other indicators when we get into difficulties. However, as regular beach users (and hopefully competent swimmers) we have a duty to look out for other beachgoers - particularly kids whose parents might not realize that they need help.

I saved a bloke once. he was about 1km out and couldn't relaunch. the sun was going down and the seabrease was going to turn off any second. But this bloke wasn't fussed at all. I'll be right he said. any way i convinced him he wasn't and body dragged him back to the beach. took about 20 mins.

plummet wrote:I saved a bloke once. he was about 1km out and couldn't relaunch. the sun was going down and the seabrease was going to turn off any second. But this bloke wasn't fussed at all. I'll be right he said. any way i convinced him he wasn't and body dragged him back to the beach. took about 20 mins.

Good thing that you insisted.
Often kiters don't realize that if they have been ridding for a couple of hours they may be a bit low on energy and get hopelessly tired after swimming a few hundred feet.

When I offer help the answer is nearly always no thanks.... so I kite near by for a bit and offer up help again and insist that it's no problem and that it would make my day.

To give you an idea of how important it is to accept help or insist on giving it ... one guy I was dragging in got a terrible cramp about half way in. He said it was so painful he had to ditch the kite. I managed to get him back no problem, but had to chase the kite downwind and bring it in at another beach. It could have been nasty if he was on his own with that killer cramp.

Another thing that I like to do is ask if the kiter in need wants to self rescue and I offer to keep a close eye on him or her and take over if it does not work out.

I saved a 3-year-old on an inflatable toy that was travelling offshore at high speed, his 6-year-old sister swimming next to him, also drifting offshore, their mum having gone to the local cantine to buy herself cofee. I was swimming, helped them out to shore, their mum never realised what a close call this was... I am very happy to have realised the risk of them drowning if I didn't act.
Good post, yes, if we think "danger" we have to act and help, drowning is super-quick and doesn't look like it until it is too late.

I once watched a woman drag a kid out of a pool after he'd fallen in and clearly couldn't swim. His mum didn't notice because the lifeguard was hitting on her. Pretty sure he didn't get any further than that.

A friend of mine just saved a kid in the Cauipe lagoon...looked like the kid could swim but then panicked and my kite buddy, who just made pictures of kiting friends, throw the cam aside and swam to the kid, and it hugged him and cried.

The mother was maybe 100m away and still does not know this happened...